Mail-bag seal.



B. H. HUMPHREY.

MAIL BAG SEAL. APPLICATION mum 00125, 1909.

Patented Aug.30, 1910 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

EDWIN HALL HUMPHREY, 0F CORRY, PENNSYLVANIA.

MAIL-BAG SEAL.

Application filed October 5,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN HALL HUM- rnnnr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Corry, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Mail-Bag Seal, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of the invention are, generally, the provision, in a merchantable form, of a device of the above mentioned class which shall be inexpensive to manufacture, facile in operation, and devoid of complicated parts; specifically, the provision of a device of the class above mentioned which shall be adapted to engage a flexible element intermediate its ends, the engagement being such that, although the flexible element may be drawn freely in one direction, a retraction of the flexible element Will be rendered impossible; other and further objects being made manifest hereinafter as the description'of the invention progresses.

The invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, delineated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in that portion of this instrument where.- in patentable novelty is claimed for certain distinctive and peculiar features of the device, it being understood that, within the scope of what hereinafter thus is claimed, divers changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure may be made, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to denote corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawmgs:

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 shows-my invention in perspective, secured upon a mail-bag; Fig. 2 shows the invention in transverse section; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective of the casing and of the label disk which is assembled therewith, the parts being spaced apart vertically, better to illustrate the structure; Fig. i is a detail perspective of the clip.

In carrying out my invention, I provide, primarily, a casing, which, in the accompanying drawings, is denoted generally by the numeral 2. This casing 2 is composed of telescopic members, in the form of shallow cups, the outer of the telescopic members being denoted by the numeral 3, and the in- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

1909. Serial No. 521,044.

ner of said members by the numeral 4. The outer member 3 is provided with openings 6, preferably disposed diametrically opposite to each other in the flange portion of the member, and between the openings 6 is located a third opening, which is denoted by the numeral 5. In fashioning these openings 5 and 6 an outstanding bur 7 is provided, so that the edges of the openings 5 and (3 may not sever accidentally, the flexible element 8, which is passed through them. In connecting the flexible element with the casing, one end 9 of the flexible element is passed inward through the opening 5, and knotted, or otherwise enlarged within the casing 2, to prevent the withdrawal of the flexible element from the casing. The intermediate portion of the flexible element 8 extends through the opening 6 in the outer member 3, whereby is formed, in the flexible element, a loop 10, which, as shown in Fig. 1, is adapted to engage the mail-bag, or other receptacle, denoted by the numeral 1.

The inner member 4:, which is adapted to be telescoped within the outer member 3, is provided in its flange portion with a series of notches 1 1, alined with the openings 5 and 6 in the flange of the outer member, the notches 14: preventing the member a from severing the flexible element, when the parts are telescoped. In Fig. 8 the elements comprising the casing are shown as being spaced apart. After the member a has been introduced within the member 3, the member 3, at its periphery, is overbent to form a. flange 11, serving to hold the member t in place within the hollow member 3. Superposed upon the member 3 and engaged by the flange 11 of the member 1, is a label disk 12, which may be fashioned from pasteboard or like material.

Passing now to a detailed description of the clip 15, it will be seen, upon an examination of Figs. 2 and 4, that the said clip, broadly speaking, is U-shaped, being bent upon itself to form arms 17 and 18, the arm 17 being slightly longer than the arm 18. In its intermediate portion, the clip 15 is provided with an opening 16, and through this opening 16, between the arms 17 and 18 of the clip, longitudinally of the clip, passes the intermediate portion of the flexible element 9. The extremity of the arm 17 is upturned as denoted by the numeral 19, and this upturned portion 19 is provided with a V-shaped notch 20. Intermediate its extremity and the opening 16, the short arm 1 clip inclosed within the casing and compris- 18 is downbent, as denoted by the numeral 21, to bear upon the flexible element 8, the extremity of the shorter arm 18 being upbent, as denoted by the numeral 22, to contact with the lower face of the top of the inner member 4.

In practical operation, the end 9 of the flexible element 8 is passed through the opening 5 in the member 3, and knotted or otherwise enlarged within the contour of the member. The free end of the flexible element 8 is then passed through the openings 6 in the member 3 and through the opening 16 in the clip 15, to dispose the intermediate portion of the flexible element between the arms 18 and 17 of the clip and in the V-shaped notch 20 in the extremity of the longer arm 17. The inner member 4 is then mounted in place Within the outer member 8, the label disk 12 being superposed upon the inner member 4. The outer member 8 being in the form shown in Fig. 8, the same is overbent to form the flange 11, shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This flange serves to engage the label disk 12, to hold the same in place, and to force the member 4 to a firm seat within the member 3, the member 4 engaging, as shown in Fig. 2, the upbent extremity 22 of the shorter arm 18 of the clip, causing the said arm to spring downward, engaging the flexible element 8 and forcing the same into the V-shaped notch 20 in the extremity of the arm 17. The device is now in condition for use, the loop 10 being placed about the receptacle which it is desired to seal. The free end of the flexible element 8 is then drawn upon, to contract the loop 10 about the receptacle, and, it will be seen, that although the flexible element may be drawn freely through the casing 1,

to contract the loop 10 about the receptacle,

an opposite movement of the flexible element, to loosen the loop 10 upon its hold upon the receptacle, will be impossible, owing to the engagement between the flexible element and the notch 20 in the arm 17. It is intended that the person closing the receptacle, shall write his name or any other desired record upon the label disk 12. Owing to the V-shape given to the notch 20, repeated attempts to enlarge the loop 10 will result in the severing of the flexible element, and this fact, together with the record carried by the element 12, will indicate at once that the receptacle has been tampered with.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

1. A device of the class described comprising a telescopic casing; a flexible element permanently connected at one end with the casing, and havlng its intermediate portion extended through the casing; and a resilient ing spaced parts held under compression by the casing to engage the flexible element.

2. A device of the class described comprising a casing including telescopic members, the outer of said members being peripherally overbent to form a flange to engage the inner member; a label disk superposed upon the inner member and engaged by the flange of the outer member; a flexible element connected at one end with the casing and having its intermediate portion extended through the casing; and a resilient clip inclosed within the casing and comprising spaced arms held under compression by the casing to e11- gage the flexible element.

3. A device of the class described comprising a casing; a resilient clip located within the casing and bent upon itself to form arms; and a flexible element connected at one end with the casing, the intermediate portion of the flexible element being extended through the casing, and through the clip longitudinally of the clip and between the arms thereof, one arm of said clip being arranged to engage the flexible element within the contour of the clip to bind the flexible element against the other arm.

4. A device of the class described comprise ing a casing including telescopic members; a resilient clip located within the casing and comprising spaced arms; and a flexible element connected at one end with the casing, the intermediate portion of the flexible element being extended through the casing and through the clip longitudinally of the same and between the arms thereof, one arm of said clip being held under compression by one of the telescopic members, to engage the flexible element within the contour of the clip to bind the flexible element against the other arm.

5. A device of the class described comprising a casing including telescopic members; a resilient clip located within the casing and bent upon itself to form arms; aflexible element connected at one end with the casing, the intermediate portion of the flexible element being extended through the casing and through the clip longitudinally of the same and between the arms thereof, one arm of said clip being held under compression by the inner of the telescopic members to engage the flexible element, and the inner of the telescopic members being held under compression by the outer of said. members.

6. A device of the class described comprising a resilient clip bent upon itself to form a long arm and a short arm, the long arm being terminally upbent; a casing to inclose the clip and to engage the short arm thereof; and a flexible element connected at one end with the casing, the intermediate portion of the flexible element being extended through the casing and through the clip between the arms thereof, longitudinally of said clip, the shorter arm being in contact with the flexible element to hold the same upon the upbent end of the longer arm.

7. A device of the class described comprising a resilient clip bent upon itself to form a long arm and a short arm, the long arm being terminally upbent and notched in its upbent portion; a casing to inclose the clip and to engage the short arm thereof; and a flexible element connected at one end with the casing, the intermediate portion of the flexible element being extended through the casing and through the clip between the arms thereof and longitudinally of the same, 15 the shorter arm being in contact With the flexible element to hold the same in the notch of the longer arm.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature 20 in the presence of two Witnesses.

EDWIN HALL HUMPHREY.

Witnesses WM. P. DECKER, NATHAN S. COVEY. 

